A deputy administered a likely lifesaving dose of NARCAN to a man experiencing an overdose in Ukiah earlier this month, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office reported.
According to the MCSO, a deputy responded to the 300 block of East Perkins Street around 12:15 a.m. May 1 after hearing a medical response requested for a possible overdose of a 32-year-old man.
When the deputy arrived on-scene, he reported seeing a bystander performing CPR on “an adult male who was lying on the ground near a business.” The man’s face was described as “bluish in color and he exhibited shallow breathing.”
Suspecting that the man was suffering from an overdose, “the deputy administered a 4MG dosage of NARCAN to the adult male,” and 45 seconds later he “showed a physical improvement but still displayed an altered level of consciousness.”
The MCSO reports that soon after, “personnel from the Ukiah Valley Fire Authority arrived and began providing additional medical treatment,” and the man was later transported to the Adventist Health Ukiah Valley hospital for further treatment.
The MCSO reports that the deputy determined that the man had “smoked a personal amount of heroin just prior to experiencing the medical emergency.”
In April 2019, the MCSO began to issue NARCAN® (Naloxone HCI) nasal spray dosage units to its employees as part of their assigned personal protective equipment, stating that its “goal is in protecting the public and officers from opioid overdoses.”
Since 2019, the MCSO reports that there have “now been 15 separate situations wherein Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office Patrol Staff have administered NARCAN and saved the lives of 15 people in need of the lifesaving antidote medication.”
The MCSO also notes that the “antidote can reverse the effects of an overdose for up to an hour, but anyone who administers the overdose reversal medication in a non-medical setting is advised to seek emergency medical help right away. The spray units can also be used by Public Safety Professionals who are unknowingly or accidentally exposed to potentially fatal amounts of fentanyl from skin absorption or inhalation.”
View more on The Willits News